EP1779066A1

EP1779066A1 - Method for representing map information

Info

Publication number: EP1779066A1
Application number: EP05758496A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Thomas Jung; Lothar-Frank Smirnov
Original assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
Current assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
Priority date: 2004-08-10
Filing date: 2005-07-15
Publication date: 2007-05-02
Anticipated expiration: 2025-07-15
Also published as: WO2006018358A1; KR20070044007A; US7751969B2; CN1993602B; DE102004038739A1; EP1779066B1; JP2008509441A; CN1993602A; ES2452734T3; US20080195303A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for representing map information for use in a navigation system, wherein the map information comprises areas (20, 21) representing a top view of a map section and lines (18, 19) representing a traffic network. In order to improve representation of the area information by additional background information, the representation of the areas (20, 21) is generated as a two- or three-dimensional view at least partially using aerial and/or satellite photographs.

Description

Method for displaying map information

The present invention relates to a method for displaying map information for a navigation system, in which the map information has areas, with which a top view of a map section is displayed, and lines, with which a traffic route network is represented. The invention further relates to a navigation system for carrying out the method according to the invention.

Navigation systems have been widely used in recent years, especially in mobile use in automobiles. In the known systems the basic functions "location", "destination selection", "route calculation" and "guidance" are implemented. For all functions a digital map of the road network is required, which is usually accommodated on a CD-ROM, a DVD or an HD and is stored.

In addition, the representation as a preferred colored card is possible. The presentation of the

Depending on the system, the map on a color screen can be scaled from approximately 1 to 8,000 to 1 to 16,000,000. This representation is helpful to get an overview of the route in the near or further environment depending on the scale. Orientation is facilitated by topographical information such as built-up areas, waters, forests and railways.

In current navigation systems with a map display, the information is displayed as a vector map on a color screen. The vectorization allows the Change of magnification on the basis of the same underlying data stored.

In this map display, the total information is composed of areas, lines and points. Different colors of the areas characterize the area to be displayed. Thus, a built-up area, so a locality, often provided with the color red. With blue areas, waters and with different shades of green fields or forests are marked. The illustration uses lines of different thickness and color for the different roads, railways and rivers. As a further design element are individual points or icons for so-called POIs (points of interest), for example

Petrol stations, workshops, hotels etc., inserted in the entirety of the map.

The surface representation is greatly simplified and therefore very abstract. Especially in a representation with higher resolution, ie in particular the closer environment, are the

Representation no additional information acceptable, which would facilitate the user's orientation.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve the representation of the area information in maps for navigation systems by means of an expanded information about the surroundings.

This object is achieved in that the representation of the surfaces in a 2- or 3-dimensional view is generated at least partially based on aerial and / or satellite images. This additional, structured

Background information, such as building outlines and plantings, help the user to transfer the information of the map to the real environment. This makes his orientation much easier. Due to the 3-dimensional view, a perspective view is possible.

A preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention provides that the resolution of the aerial and / or satellite images is varied as a function of the map detail to be displayed. As a result, an adaptation of the accuracy of the representation is possible depending on the situation. In an advantageous continuation of the method according to the invention, the resolution of the aerial and / or satellite images is varied as a function of at least one structure separator. This makes it possible that the required amount of data can be reduced in a meaningful way. So it makes sense that in areas with larger

Meaning a higher resolution, ie a higher accuracy of the individual objects to be displayed, is output. For areas with less importance for the use of a navigation system, the resolution and thus the amount of data to be stored can be reduced.

The preferred structural parameter takes into account the average number of inhabitants per area. This structural parameter takes into account the fact that in towns, for example in cities, the population density is significantly higher than in rural areas.

Another advantageous structural parameter takes into account the average number of buildings per area. This parameter is in principle similar to the previous one, taking into account the number of inhabitants, but the number of buildings per area can be taken directly from the aerial and / or satellite reception without having to resort to other sources, such as statistics, of the registration authorities.

In a preferred development of the method according to the invention, at least one spatial point in the map information is marked with a picture element. For example, the picture element may be a pictogram or an icon identifying a POI in the map.

An advantageous embodiment of the method according to the invention provides that selected areas of the map information are highlighted. Preferably, the highlighting is done by a transparent coloring. By highlighting the color, for example, public buildings can be marked, which usually can not be distinguished in the top view of an air and / or SateUitenaufnahme of privately used buildings. - A -

A navigation system for carrying out the method according to the invention comprises a map information data storage device, a processor device that processes the map information data, and a display device that outputs the processed map information data. In the storage device, as the map information data, both the vectorized road network and image data of

Aerial and / or satellite images stored as surface information data. In this case, the memory device can be arbitrary, i. Any optical and / or magnetic storage device may be used for implementation. The processor device combines the different map information data to produce a consistent representation of areas, lines, and points. Subsequently, on the

Representation device, such as a color monitor, the issued card issued.

In a preferred navigation system according to the invention, the storage device has a CD (Compact Disc) and / or a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc). This allows easy updating of existing data and / or exchange for use in another country or state.

The memory device of a navigation system according to the invention preferably has image data of aerial and / or satellite images of different resolutions. This allows a different representation according to the importance of the area concerned.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings. These show in:

Figure 1 - a schematic diagram of a navigation system for carrying out the method according to the invention;

Figure 2 - a conventional map display for a navigation system;

Figure 3 - a detail of an aerial and / or satellite recording; and

FIG. 4 shows a map representation for a navigation system generated by the method according to the invention.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a navigation system 1 with a processor device 2. The processor device 2 is connected to a memory device 3 and processes the map information stored in the memory device 3. The of the

Processor device 2 generated Karlendarstellung, for example, an overlay of the vectorized map of the road network with air or satellite space frame, is then displayed on the display device 4, for example on a color monitor.

In the following, the method according to the invention will be described in more detail. FIG. 2 shows a map detail 5 with a partial area of a metropolitan area, in the present example the Gtossraum Hamburg. The hat information is differentiated by essentially two different colors. The slightly darker area 6 marks the built-up area. The brighter surface 7 indicates that these are essentially natural surfaces, in particular fields or forests.

Further, the figure various lines 8, 9 and 10 can be seen, indicating the traffic network. The stronger and more markedly colored road 8 is a federal highway, while the road designated by the reference numeral 9 represents a less developed road, for example, a highway or an inner city arterial road. The alternately shown with two colors line 10 shows the course of a railway or rail track. Furthermore, there are 5 additional pixels or icons for identifying POIs (point of interest) in the representation of the map section. Thus, the reference numeral 11, an icon for displaying the location of a gas station marked. With the icon 12, the position of the airport and with the icon 13 the location of a traffic obstruction or traffic congestion is displayed.

FIG. 3 shows an aerial and / or satellite image of an inner city area. FIG. 3 shows the course of a river 14 and densely populated areas 15. Ebenfells are in the figure 3 gradients of roads 16 of various kinds and

Size recognizable.

FIG. 4 shows a map detail 17 generated by the method according to the invention. As background data, data of an aerial and / or satellite image are underlaid for the map detail 17. On this wallpaper is as more detailed

Information overlapping the vectorized road network. Thus, in the map section 17 a highway 18 and other roads 19 can be clearly seen.

Between the individual streets 18, 19 now not only a monotonous surface, but _βΛ the real structure of the corresponding area can be seen. Thus, the user sees in the display of the navigation system, if next to the road, a building 20 or a green area 21 is located.

Finally, special POIs are additionally displayed by pixels 22. The corresponding image areas, for example the outline of a public building, are colored transparent. This makes this building stand out from the environment and is easier to identify.

If the structured background information is generated by aerial and / or satellite images, this leads to a considerable increase in the map data in the

Navigation system 1 (FIG. 1). For different presentation scales, differently high-resolution image information must be maintained. For Germany, with an extension of about 876 by 632 km, the data sets listed in Table 1 below can be found approximately.

Table 1

The data sets given above refer to a compressed data format. These indications are exemplary and serve only as a rough guide and may also vary depending on the compression algorithm used.

From these data it can be seen that at a high resolution, for example Im, the total amount of data is no longer possible on commercially available storage media, CD or DVD. However, a reduction of the resolution leads to an unsightly, unacceptable presentation, especially in the smaller display scales (50 m - 5 km). Nationwide it would only be possible to work with a resolution of 10m per pixel if the same resolution is chosen for the entire federal territory.

Therefore, it is provided according to the invention that the resolution for different areas is selected depending on the meaning. To evaluate the meaning, a structural parameter is used. This structural parameter can be, for example, the population density in the corresponding areas.

If we now include population density in a focused breakdown of resolutions, more detailed image information will be used in areas of high population density. Ih mostly rural areas, which are sparsely populated and therefore offer little information relevant to the orientation, only data with a coarser resolution are used. As a result, the data volume of the stored image data can be significantly reduced with a constant viewing quality.

Table 2 shows a possible division of the federal territory to different resolutions of the clear, which takes into account the structural parameter population density.

Table 2

As can be seen from the table above, the resulting image display storage capacity is of the order of magnitude that can be stored on commercially available storage media such as CDs. By use

10 a storage medium with a larger storage capacity, such as a DVD can

In order to make optimum use of the storage capacity of the storage medium, the exemplary layout and evaluation of the area can be varied.

Alternatively and / or in addition to the structural parameter population density, the

15 Density of the development of the areas concerned can be used as an evaluation criterion. The advantage of the building density as a structural criterion is that the information itself is present on the underlying aerial and / or satellite images. An additional data source, such as the statistics of the registration authorities, is not required.

20

As a further possible structural parameter, the road density due to the vectorised road network can also be used to evaluate the areas. Logically, a combination of all three structural parameters can also be used as a meaningful benchmark.

Claims

claims

1. A method for displaying map information for a navigation system, in which the map information has areas, with which a plan view of a map section is shown, and lines, with which a traffic network is represented, characterized in that the representation of the areas in a 2- or 3-dimensional view is generated at least partially based on aerial and / or satellite images.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the resolution of the aerial and / or satellite images is varied depending on the displayed ff, map section.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the resolution of the aerial and / or satellite images is varied in dependence on at least one structural parameter.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that an average population per area is taken into account for the structure parameter.

5. The method according to spoke 3 or 4, characterized in that for the

Structural parameters an average number of buildings per area is taken into account.

6. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one point in space in the map information is marked with a picture element.

7. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one selected area of the map information is highlighted.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that the highlighting is carried out by a transparent coloring.

9. Navigation system (1) for carrying out the method according to one of claims 1 to 8 with:

a memory device (3) for map information data,

a processor device (2) which processes the map information data, and

a display device (4) which outputs the processed map information data.

10. Navigation system according to claim 9, characterized in that the

Memory device (3) comprises a compact disc (CD) and / or a digital versatile disc (DVD).

11. Navigation system according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the memory device (3) has image data of aerial and / or satellite images of different resolutions.